CIA seeks to broaden foreign language skills

[BlueJessamine]

Source: The Miami Herald

WASHINGTON -- The CIA is undertaking a five-year plan to boost the agency's fluency in foreign languages, Director Leon Panetta said Friday.

Less than a third of CIA analysts and overseas spies are proficient in a foreign language and Panetta said he aims to raise foreign language proficiency inside the CIA to at least half of all analysts and intelligence operatives within the next five years.

"Whether an officer is conducting a meeting in a foreign capital, analyzing plans of a foreign government, or translating a foreign broadcast, language capability is critical to every aspect of our mission," Panetta said.

CIA spokesman George Little said less than 30 percent of analysts and intelligence collectors are currently proficient in a foreign language, but would not say how many officers speak which languages.


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